U14 Netball Team National Champions!

Having lost by one in the dying seconds of the Independent Schools Cup semi-final the previous season and missing out on the England Netball Tournament National Finals by three goals just the month before, the U14 girls were determined to make amends when it mattered most. What ensued was a game of fire, passion and impressive skill to make what I believe is Churcher’s history.

Beating Oakbank, Queen Anne’s, The Abbey, St Helen’s and St Katherine’s and Queenswood School, qualifying for the 'Sisters n Sport' Shield National Finals was an amazing achievement in itself.

They were exceptional, from the first whistle right to the last, roared on by a wonderful, supportive team of parents.

The squad of nine travelled to Worcester on Wednesday evening after school to prevent having a long, early morning journey on game day. The next 24 hours seemed to be a complete rollercoaster of emotions; excitement, nerves, worry, there were even tears when I played to the girls a montage of good luck messages from parents, peers, staff and Churcher’s 1^st team captains – this worked in the girls’ favour; all that nervous energy and emotion was then released and the sheer intensity of the warm up indicated that the girls were committed to bringing it home.

They were exceptional, from the first whistle right to the last, roared on by a wonderful, supportive team of parents. When we scored the opening centre pass, and subsequently went on to steal the next, this signalled the tone of the match.

The movement through court between Lillie, Lucinda, Maya and player of the match, Katie was sharper than ever before, and the statistics of the squads shooting trio of Pippa, captain Flo and Orla, meant the mid-court hard work was more often than not rewarded. County High Leftwich were left unable to break through the super solid defensive unit of Freya and Charlie, forcing the opposition into making significant and unplanned positional changes early in the match.

It wasn’t only their sporting performance which made me so proud - it was how they really embodied the Team Churcher’s spirit

Momentum remained with Churcher’s in the second half as they continued to find their rhythm, working tirelessly to turnover the ball and taking it to goal at amazing speed to extend their advantage. Despite building a commanding lead, they stuck to the game plan, were never complacent and simply played for each other.

It wasn’t only their sporting performance which made me so proud - it was how they really embodied the Team Churcher’s spirit, their team work, their commitment and their respect for the opposition (taking the time to shake hands and console others before even celebrating together) and of course, how resilient they were managing their nerves before the match.

As I said to them at the end of the pre-match team talk, “you are fantastic individual athletes, but an even better team; play like the Churcher’s Champions you are!” – and this, they certainly did!

Kelly Higgins, Head of Sports Science